Children are fascinated by toys which have figures that move in lifelike ways. Lifelike movement is improved if the activating force moving the figures is not immediately apparent and if the figures can be made to move in a less mechanical way.
In addition, because of the economics of developing toys, it is helpful if the mechanism can be as simple as possible.
The present invention is particularly suited to scenes, particularly scenes which have small animals or figures moving in them.
The invention can also be used with a spring driven motor, and the scenes can be encased in a case such as an egg which, when opened, can reveal the scene.
If the opening or the closing of the case also winds the motor, the figures can be made to move by the opening and closing of the case.
Scenes driven by spring motors that are wound by the opening and closing of an egg-like case are known. An example of such product was made in 1993 by Takara Co. Ltd. under the name of My Pet Dino. Typically, such scenes are additionally encased in a clear plastic bubble to protect the moving figures, even when the outer opaque case is open.
In the Takara example, the closing of the case winds the spring driven motor, which has an eccentric cam attached to its shaft. The eccentric cam extends upward through a scene board into the underside of a figure which then moves side to side in response to the movement of the eccentric cam.
The present invention seeks to improve on this article by providing for a different form of motion which can be applied to a plurality of individual figures and can be combined with other figures to create relatively complex moving animated scenes driven by a spring driven motor.